The show follows 10 main characters as they navigate relationships between societal classes in Vienna, Austria. The play was written by Arthur Schnitzler in Germany in 1890 and was first performed in 1920. Schnitzler wrote the play as a commentary on the strict class structure that existed at the time.
“[Schnitzler] pointed out that there are people from all classes of society that do the same thing,” said Tom Alsip, “La Ronde” director and graduate teaching assistant.
The idea behind the show is that no matter what social class you’re in, you have the same wants and needs for human connection as everyone.
“No matter where you come from, what your background is, or how you got there… We all want the same things, and [that’s] what I think this show is about,” Alsip said.
UA Theatre and Dance has even come up with a hashtag, #WhatConnectsUs, as part of their advertising for the show on social media.
“We really are on this plane a finite amount of time,” Alsip said. “We come into the world and leave the world alone, and we want to make a connection in between, and I think this is a play about people looking for a connection.”
This theme of connection is what the cast aims to demonstrate through their performances this week. Graduate student Zach Stolz, who plays The Poet in the production, explained his take on the underlying theme of the play.
“It’s these ten different people weaving in and out of each other’s lives… [It’s about] how everything we do to each other affects other people in ways that we don’t understand,” Stolz said.
The play follows an abnormal structure in order to display this theme. It has 10 different scenes that each only contain two actors. Each actor performs in two consecutive scenes. Director Alsip said, however, that the different structure was more of a “unique challenge” rather than an issue in rehearsals.
“If anything it was fun,” Alsip said. “It was more interesting. It led to some great opportunities for actors to see things they hadn’t seen before in a different part of the process.”
The actors enjoyed the different rehearsal structure as well. Since they’re only in two scenes, each actor only stays for a portion of the rehearsal time and frequently they don’t see the play performed in its entirety until dress rehearsals when they rehearse the full production.
“It’s been fascinating,” Stolz said. “It’s really exciting to be this deep into the process and still be surprised. There’s no opportunity to get tired of the story.”
Along with the interesting structure, the play also contains some mature content. In each scene there is some aspect of sexual tension or intimacy between the two characters. For some of the actors, rehearsing the more intimate scenes was more difficult.
“It’s always an adventure because you’re going to very vulnerable places with people that you don’t necessarily have that kind of a relationship with,” Stolz said.
For others, however, like Cindy Spitko, a first-year graduate student, it was just another part of the job.
“I’m very comfortable with stage intimacy… So that wasn’t really something that I struggled with at all,” she said.
Spitko plays The Actress, a character who was actually written based on a real actress at the time. Adele Sandrock, a famous German theatre and movie actress, had a rocky affair with the playwright Arthur Schnitzler, which he incorporated into the production as the scene between The Poet and The Actress.
“Once I discovered that, it opened up that role for me and I figured out a lot more about her,” Spitko said.
The actors and director Alsip have all put a lot of effort into the play since auditions in November and are excited to share their hard work with audiences this week.
“La Ronde” will be performed at the Allen Bales Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the box office at Rowand-Johnson Hall or online at theatre.ua.edu.
